Video game footage misrepresented as 'massacred North Korean troops'

"It is said that over 400 troops died in just 12 seconds of bombing," read a Korean-language Facebook post that shared the footage on November 2, 2024.

The video shows a group of soldiers hit by a cluster of bombs that suddenly rain down from the sky.

Korean text below the image reads: "The devastating state of North Korean forces massacred in just 12 seconds", while Chinese text above the clip says "Rapid concentrated bombing" and "Just 12 seconds".

Seoul's spy agency said on October 18 that North Korea had deployed soldiers to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia's Far East undergoing training (archived link).  

More troops are likely to be sent soon, the National Intelligence Service said, adding that it estimated the North could send around 12,000 soldiers in total.

North Korea's representative at the United Nations dismissed the claim as "groundless rumours" and said the secretive nation's relationship with Russia was "legitimate and cooperative" (archived link).

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on November 7 Seoul was "not ruling out" the possibility of providing weapons to Ukraine -- a break from its current policy -- after reports suggesting the North's deeper involvement in the conflict (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false post shared on Facebook, captured November 7

The video was shared across various conservative Facebook pages in South Korea by an account that has previously fanned misinformation.

Some Facebook users appeared to believe the footage was genuine.

"These troops have just become poor fodder for Kim Jong Un's ambitions," one user wrote, referring to North Korea's leader.

"How can you watch this and still deny North Korea hasn't become involved in the war in Ukraine?" another wrote. 

But the video shows a game about made-up military operations. 

Video game simulation

A reverse image search on Google found a higher-resolution, uncropped version of the video posted on a verified YouTube account called Cagri Karip on October 2, 2024 (archived link). 

The video, which racked up more than two million views, is titled in Turkish: "American A-10C2 Fighter Jet Attacks Canadian Soldiers! | DCS."

DCS refers to Digital Combat Simulator, a digital battlefield game that offers an "authentic and realistic simulation of military aircraft, tanks, ground vehicles and ships possible," according to its website (archived link). 

Contacted by AFP, Karip confirmed the video "was indeed created by me using the DCS (Digital Combat Simulator) game engine, and it does not depict any real-life events." 

"This simulation represents a fictional military scenario and is not based on any real-world conflict or location," he said on November 7. 

Below are screenshot comparisons between the video shared in false Facebook posts (left) and in Karip's YouTube video (right):

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Screenshot comparisons between the video shared in false Facebook posts (left) and in Karip's YouTube video (right)

The original clip shows different textured resolutions for the ground, trees, human sprites and vehicles, indicating it is a digital creation.

Karip, who regularly posts YouTube videos created using DCS, features a disclaimer on his channel that "none of the videos created here are reminiscent of the truth" and are "created entirely through simulations" (archived link).

AFP previously debunked other videos created using the DCS engine falsely shared as authentic footage of military situations.